･ﾟೃ⁀➷ 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZZIE

⠀⠀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐙𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 like a hawk. Paying attention for any unnatural symptoms or anything that might suggest she had meta-human-like abilities. Meta-humans. That's what Wells had called them, Lizzie didn't ask where the word came from but she had a feeling it was out of metamorphosis. Denoting a change of position or condition.

⠀⠀She didn't know what to feel about her current predicament. Did she want abilities that only people such as Superman or Wonder Woman had? A few years ago, yes. Right now, she didn't know.

⠀⠀Barry would help her understand this, right? When he woke up? Or maybe not, as he'd probably be busy considering his own abilities. He healed fast and his heartbeat was more accelerated than that of an average person at times. And he was ripped now, which was somehow still difficult for Lizzie to wrap her head around. Even when they were children — before Mom died — Serenity had always been the athletic one out of the three. Of course, she was mostly into martial arts but if you challenged her to basketball you had to prepare to get shot down (Henry had taken great joy bragging about it to neighbors even when his wife sent him looks).

⠀⠀Of course, the entire situation was something she couldn't wrap her head around but that seemed to be the theme of her life these days.

⠀⠀Either way no abilities or not, Lizzie stuck to her daily timetable. And another month passed while Barry was still not up.

⠀⠀. . . . And then January 21 rolled along and Lizzie turned 15.

⠀⠀Her birthday had been a big deal in the West-Allen household, and she'd loved it every year. There was cake, presents, they brought another Christmas tree which was decorated because Lizzie loved Christmas and this was her own mini Christmas. It had been happening since she was two and the odd tradition kept repeating the years that followed, even after her mom died because Joe West wouldn't hear otherwise. No one complained, even if Lizzie spent two hours crying about how it was just her and Barry there, but then she smiled because Joe and Iris were there too.

⠀⠀Nothing of that sort happened this time, even if it did, Joe and Iris seemed to have taken a hint that she wasn't in the mood of celebrating. She somehow doubted they even remembered what the date was, considering recent events. Joe didn't even remember to eat unless Iris reminded him. This sucked, if Lizzie truly wanted a birthday gift it was for Barry to wake up. 

⠀⠀School was horrible to no one's surprise. She'd almost wanted to skip classes for a while, Joe had given an okay for it, but she hardly doubted that would be in her favor. Leawood School of Science and Technology was a prestigious school, one Joe couldn't afford for her even with the subsidy checks he received from the state, he'd put her in the same high school Barry and Iris attended but his plans had changed when Lizzie got a scholarship from Leawood. She'd suspected Rome's mother was involved since her parents who were both scientists working at Mercury Labs, could afford the prestigious school, and their status as extremely brilliant researchers might have been at hand when it came to Lizzie's admission. But Rome had told Lizzie that her parents had simply suggested her name, everything after that was based on the auburn-haired girl's merit. It had a comforting thought, it was what got her through when listening to the jeers of some classmates who seemed to know just about everything about her.

 ⠀⠀There were many reasons Lizzie didn't have many friends at her new school, there were rich snobs who didn't want to befriend a lowly middle-classer such as herself or they weren't fond of her getting the attention of all teachers (except Mr. Simmons, somehow he loathed her for his own reasons, or maybe reasons that were the same as everyone else). Or that her sister was adopted by a billionaire so people liked to assume the only reasons she was going to that school was because Bruce Wayne paid for it. Hell would freeze over before something like that happened.

 ⠀⠀Oh, and it also seemed everyone knew about her dad being in jail.

 ⠀⠀It had been halfway through the second term that everyone found out. How? She didn't know. All that was crystal clear for her was the fact that the only person who sat with her at lunch from that day onwards was Rome, who, thankfully was too dominating for her own good to be cornered into the outcast zone. So, yeah, most of the time Lizzie didn't have to deal with people saying things to her face. That didn't stop notes from being slipped into her bag or locker, she'd made it a policy of throwing them away without bothering to give them another look. 

 ⠀⠀Just like how the gossip of her father being incarcerated in Iron Heights spread like a wildfire everyone seemed to know about her brother when she came back on Monday. The looks of pity made her want to claw out of her own. 

 ⠀⠀Rome didn't change. Alright, scratch that she looked more concerned, and probably was more concerned but she didn't walk on eggshells around Lizzie as everyone else did. She was still Rome. That was one constant in her life.

 ⠀⠀"Hey," Rome was once again leaning against her own locker as Lizzie closed slammed the door of her locker, "So, I was thinking."

 ⠀⠀The two walked towards English as the conversation continued, a familiar pattern, "Oh, no, isn't that dangerous?"

 ⠀⠀Rome flicked the auburn-haired girl in her ear, "We are going to Marie's today — and I'll pay — and we'll have those mini cupcakes you like so much, grab lunch, you know girl bonding exercises."

 ⠀⠀Lizzie raised an eyebrow, "I thought you hated mini-cupcakes?"

 ⠀⠀"They're just miniaturizing regular cupcakes which are already miniaturized versions of regular cakes," Rome ranted, "I mean, where does it end?"

 ⠀⠀Lizzie snorted, Rome's staunch hatred for mini-cupcakes was never not amusing.

 ⠀⠀"Oh, and then we can watch a movie and have a sleepover," Rome finished, "Your place or my place?"

 ⠀⠀Lizzie sighed, "You know, I know what you're doing."

 ⠀⠀"And what is that, exactly?" The silverette feigned innocence.

 ⠀⠀Lizzie gave her friend an exasperated look, "I'm not in the mood to celebrate."

 ⠀⠀"Well, you can't wallow on your birthday of all things," Rome said, "That's like a crime. You're making me miss one of my favorite holidays, it ain't fair."

 ⠀⠀"And it's not the same without Barry," At some point, they'd both stopped walking, other students walked past them the same as usual, "I'm not in the mood to celebrate this time, Rome. Leave it."

 ⠀⠀She turned around and walked towards English. Mr. Simmons was pleasant as always.

 ⠀⠀Rest of the day went in a blur.

⠀⠀Not the best birthday.

⠀⠀She took a cab to S.T.A.R. Labs this time, Iris was at work and she'd sent a text to Eddie that she was fine on her own. Lizzie really wanted to be alone right now, but at the same time, she didn't. Easy solution: Sit next to Barry in silence.

 ⠀⠀Her phone went off a few times. Texts from Iris, texts from Joe, texts from Rome, even freaking Eddie. And let's not forget the unknown number that called her thrice, it was from Starling City and Lizzie was not in a mood to hear whatever her sister had to say. And she'd blocked Serenity anyway, the brunette should have gotten a hint instead of calling from a new number.

 ⠀⠀Instead, she focused on her sketch. 

 ⠀⠀Lizzie liked to think she was pretty good at drawing. It was a hobby, too, and she loved it. You'd always find a few sharpies in her bag, many more in her school locker, and a notepad always on her. Lately, it became an escape from reality.

 ⠀⠀Charcoal lead bled her imagination onto the thin notepad paper. Her fingers were covered in the dark charcoal as she shaded in the edges to give them depth. She'd left everything in the color of the white paper and the black charcoal except for flaming red hair. She had that sharpie in the pocket on her jacket, why not use it?

 ⠀⠀Her art piece was that of a young girl, wearing an old-fashioned dress, greek style like in that movie. Lizzie wished she had a green sharpie, for the eyes. Might make it look enchanting, which wasn't the theme Lizzie was going for until she realized that it was. No green sharpie, tho, too bad.

 ⠀⠀"Nice drawing," Lizzie flinched, her red sharpie and pencil fell on the floor, "Oh, shit, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Noah Snow quickly crouched to pick up the fallen stationary, "Second time I've startled you in one month," He muttered. Lizzie allowed herself a giggle, she'd barely spoken to the brown-haired boy in the past two months. Nothing besides the odd greeting.

 ⠀⠀"It's fine," She told him, "I didn't hear you come in."

 ⠀⠀"Yeah, I kind of got used to not doing that," Noah shrugged, "Mom didn't really like being disturbed, and Hartley Rathaway thought making my presence known was unnecessary and annoying," He added that part in a mocking tone, "It's a habit, now."

 ⠀⠀"He sounds like a dick."

 ⠀⠀"Oh, you have no idea,"He shook his head. His eyes traveled to the sketch in Lizzie's hand, the woman with an enchanting theme Lizzie gave her on accident, "Is that Circe?"

 ⠀⠀"Who?" Lizzie looked at the picture, maybe she painted a face from her own subconsciousness. The girl in the sketch didn't look like someone Lizzie knew, maybe a coincidence?

 ⠀⠀"Circe? You know, greek goddess of sorcery," He explained, "She'd a minor one. If you've ever read The Odessey she's a bitch, but I like to think of her as a complicated character. Unless you've read Percy Jackson in which case . . . . People don't like her much."

 ⠀⠀"I haven't," Lizzie said, "read Percy Jackson. Wasn't it a movie?"

 ⠀⠀"Don't watch it," He suggested, "Just don't do that to yourself."

 ⠀⠀"It can't be that bad," Lizzie chuckled, she'd heard of the books, never read them. Sure, she'd finished Harry Potter, but fantasy wasn't her genre. Classics were more like it, "I mean, wasn't it directed by the same guy who did Harry Potter?"

 ⠀⠀"And yet it's a colossal piece of shit," Noah said, "I have never loathed a movie more in my entire life. I mean, Annabeth is blonde, get that right! And they're supposed to be 12! Not 15! I don't even know what they were thinking about making another one. It shouldn't exist, it's horrible."

 ⠀⠀Noah Snow, apparently, hated the Percy Jackson movies just as much as Rome Evans hated mini-cupcakes.

 ⠀⠀After he finished his piece, he remembered Lizzie hadn't read the books or watched those godawful movies, "And now I've embarrassed myself with an unnecessary rant," He muttered.

 ⠀⠀"It's alright. By the sound of it, it sounded kinda necessary. One book nerd to another," She shuddered remembering Iris's Christmas present in 2009: A copy of Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. She'd considered disowning her foster sister back then.

 ⠀⠀"Thanks," Noah smiled, "What kind of books do you like?"

 ⠀⠀"Classics," She shrugged, "Little Women has to be my favorite."

 ⠀⠀"I've read Scarlet Letter, if that counts," Noah said, "I don't read much, but I like fantasy novels. Percy Jason, Harry Potter, anything that comes out of Cassandra Clare's head."

 ⠀⠀"I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen," Lizzie said, "Her books are some of the best ones I've ever read. I've read Harry Potter, too, but nothing else in another genre."

 ⠀⠀"I'd suggest Infernal Devices for you," Noah told her, "It's a pending series, two books are already out and the last one is on the way. Of course, there are the Mortal Instruments, which it's basically a prequel of, but I think you would like the Infernal Devices more. It's about love and demons."

 ⠀⠀"What's it about?" She asked. If it wasn't anything remotely close to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies she would give it a read.

 ⠀⠀"There's these guys called Sahdowhunters, they're part angel and they kill demons or people who are part demon aka the Downworlders. Of course, not all Downworlders are bad or all Shadowhunters good. The Mortal Instruments take place in modern-day New York and the Infernal Devices in 1800s England. You'll like that one better, probably, it has a bit of a classic theme to it. At least that's what I think, they're all great books, either way."

 ⠀⠀Lizzie hummed, that did sound like a lot to unpack. Could something for her reading list.

 ⠀⠀"Harry Potter's nice too," Noah nodded, "But . . . I don't like Dumbledore, or Snape."

 ⠀⠀"Oh, I hate Snape," Lizzie groaned, "He reminds me of my English teacher. He always looks like I ate his last cookie."

 ⠀⠀Noah snorted, "Sounds like an interesting guy."

 ⠀⠀"He's an asshole," Lizzie glared at the wall as if it was Mr. Simmons, "I hate him so much."

 ⠀⠀"I had a teacher like that," Noah recalled, "Cait called him Snivellous, all the way. I accidentally called him that to his face once and I got landed in detention. She had the audicity to laugh."

 ⠀⠀"Iris does that all the time!" Lizzie said, "It's like older sisters get happiness from our pain."

 ⠀⠀"Isn't Iris your brother's girlfriend?" Noah looked confused.

 ⠀⠀"Oh, no!" Lizzie shook her head, "They're best friends, and he's been in love with her since we were kids, so maybe put future girlfriend on that. She'd been like a sister to me since I was a kid. And Joe's my dad that way."

 ⠀⠀"What about your other sister?" Noah asked, "Felicity mentioned her. Serenity, right?"

 ⠀⠀Lizzie frowned, "Except she hasn't been my sister for years. She moved away to Gotham with Aunt Rose after our mom died, and Barry and I went to live with Joe. And then Aunt Rose died and she got adopted by her boyfriend."

 ⠀⠀"I'm sorry," Noah said, "That's . . . That's gotta suck. Cait's basically all I've had since we lost dad. Mom was always a bit distant, it always . . . seemed like she was keeping something from us. I convinced her to let me move in with Caitlin after she started working in Central City, she's been all I have since then. Her and Ronnie—" He stopped. Lizzie looked at him in concern, he kinda looked like he was close to tears.

 ⠀⠀"Noah?" She put a hand on his shoulder when he didn't respond to his name. He seemed to have snapped out of some sort of stance, "Are you . . . okay?" She asked that question on principle because she knew Noah wasn't okay. He didn't look okay in any angle.

 ⠀⠀"Uh, sorry," He said, very interested in the floor for some reason, "Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancee, they used to date in college and I've known him ever since. He is—Was . . . My version of Iris, I guess," He chuckled wetly, "He died on the night your brother, um," He gestured towards Barry's condition.

 ⠀⠀That explained why Caitlin never smiled.

 ⠀⠀So the guy in the picture was Ronnie. H

 ⠀⠀"I'm sorry."

 ⠀⠀"Me, too," Noah muttered, "You know, it's weird, sometimes it just randomly hits me that he's gone. I mean, I know he's gone, I was there . . . And it's been a month, he's dead. But . . . it just really sucks when that feeling hits me sometimes."

⠀⠀Lizzie placed her hand on his shoulder, she didn't say anything. A few tears fell on the floor, Lizzie noticed he was crying. When you're crying, it's always nice to have a shoulder to lean on, Lizzie had plenty of them. Noah looked like he could use one. 

⠀⠀She got up from her chair and knelt next to the brown-haired boy, wrapping her arms around his neck. He sniffled, a sob escaped his throat. Lizzie hugged the boy a little tighter, she didn't like hearing him cry. She barely knew him, but she decided she didn't like hearing Noah Snow cry. 

✎↷ ❪ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄! ❫ ✩˚₊ ͙
𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, 𝟤𝟩𝟦𝟢

and there's another chapter right
back at ya! next one takes us to
starling city and the three missed
calls. spoiler alert: those were not
from serenity. it'll be some angsty
shit, lemme tell you.